Combe d'Eve Cotes de Beaune Blanc Emmanuel Giboulot 2014/15

Combe d'Eve Cotes de Beaune Blanc Giboulot, Chardonnay, Burgundy, Organic, taught, elegant, complex, Burgundy of pure class made by one of Burgundy's most notable organic producers. Difficult to put a finger on Emmanuel's wines, they are so precise and delightfully subtle. Combe d'Eve is a small parcel of vineyard in the northern part of the Pierres Blanches. The soils are clay and gravel with a hard bedrock in a third of the parcel plot (adding minerality to the fruit). Like many of his Cuvee, Combe d'Eve offers a very original expression of Cote de Beaune Chardonnay, taught and very fresh yet wrapped in layers of fresh butter, wild flowers and minerals. Chardonnay at its most regal and desirable.

Emmanuel Giboulet is somewhat of a renegade in the Burgundy bubble, resisting wholeheartedly the use of chemicals and pesticides in the vineyard. Stemming from his father's move to organic production after his mother became ill and they realised the impact chemicals were having on the land. Since taking over the estate in 1985 he has sought to increase the biodiversity and learn how to keep the vines healthy with natural balance. This behaviour risked getting him landed in jail when the appellation called for all vineyards to be sprayed with a chemical to protect the spread of 'flavescence dorée' and he refused. Luckily, due to huge support and the opening of the debate, he was allowed to continue and his approach has stood the test of time. He has now grown his holdings to nearly 10 hectares with small plots all over the Cotes de Beaune and some in Cotes de Nuits. He remains committed to his principles and he even has the enviable reputation of being 'supposedly' the only producer in Burgundy never to chaptalise his wines, and he never uses new oak, just used barrels. A purist through and through, for pure, authentic Burgundy, Giboulot is your man.